Look Carbon Keo Blade Pedals - CrMo

THANKSGIVING UPDATE: I had to repack these brand new pedals 6 weeks after receiving them as they were squeaking badly. YMMV, but why take the chance? Get the special 5-tooth tool if you can find it, but repack these bearings before even mounting them. They come with almost NO grease, I assume to keep claimed weight to the bare minimum, but that's a very poor trade-off IMHO.

 

I bought a pair of new Look Keo Carbon Blade CrMo pedals, as my Shimano Ultegra were getting pretty ratty, and the Look are $50 cheaper these days. In fact, you can get the Ti Ceramic Look Keo Carbon Blade pedals online for less than the list price of the Shimano Ultegra carbon. SMH. Not this guy.  $135 from Colorado Cyclist with the FALL discount (out of stock now I see), no tax, no shipping charges. 

They mount the same, but are positioned much differently, so it took a bit to get them dialed in, and is still a work in progress in truth. You CANNOT unclip from the Look pedals by twisting your heel inwards, which is my habit with my L foot, the one I always disengage. That's been problematic, but hoping with time my muscle memory will adjust. 

UPDATE: You CAN disengage by twisting your heel inward, but it takes ~ 3X the force. Weird, as the mech looks symmetrical. 

After the cleats wore into the pedals a bit, after about 25 miles I guess, I like them a lot. With 4.5 degrees of float they feel "liquid". They may be slightly less prone to hot-spots too, and I do think the bearings are a bit better, even the stainless ones on the CrMo version.

How I came to this decision is a bit of a long story with a happy ending. A friend was asking about bottom bracket bearing upgrades, and I pointed out that while people tend to obsess about those bearings, the bearings in pedals bear EXACTLY the same amount of force, but are much, much smaller bearings, so a better upgrade would be pedals. 

He then asked me about pedals, and I have him some basic guidance, like good pedals have large stainless steel (very hard, usually stainless, which can be as hard as 475 Brinell hardness, used in making steel plate targets for shooting practice) plates under the balls of your feet so they don't wear out. I sent him a pic of my Ultegra R8000 carbon pedals, but looking at the pics I noticed the left pedal's clip mech in the back was looking pretty ratty, and it started to bug me. 

 

After 6-7yrs, getting kind of ratty...

I conducted a Google Safari, looking around for good pedals for him and was intrigued by Look's Keo Carbon Blade pedals, which ditched the steel torsion springs in back for what Look calls a leaf spring, which is made of carbon fiber. They come in various tensions, 8, 12, 16 & 20 which you install "permanently" until you get sick of looking at them or just want to change the tension for some reason. Then you unscrew a rod and install a different "Blade" for a different tension, or the same one if you like the looks of the newer blade. They have a special TDF version, for example. Some have a pronounced carbon weave pattern, others are just black with decals.

 

While the lower weight was interesting from a design perspective, what I liked more was the over-sized main bearing next to the pedal arm. It's a cartridge bearing, very much like you'd find in the front wheel hub of your factory wheel. The outboard bearing is a tapered roller bearing, the same as the wheel bearings on your car. You can find the wrench to service the pedals, and a Ti axle to boot for a bargain price of $8.90 (with shipping) here on Ebay. I include it here just for the pics. The product may be crap, or fantastic. I have no clue. They're supposed to shave 22 grams off the already light CoMo pedals with the included ceramic cartridge bearings. Again, the roller bearing is molded into the pedal, so it cannot be replaced.

 Needle point roller bearings, the kind used by Look, are designed to take high axial and radial loads, as they have a lot of contact surface and are tapered in the direction of the axial load. Look's are embedded in the carbon pedal, and the machined taper on the spindle comprises the cone of the bearing, so only the tapered CroMo shaft, or Titanium if you've got an extra $150 bucks (you do get ceramic bearings for that price too) lying around, can be replaced, not the embedded bearing. 

You can service both bearings by cleaning and applying new grease. As the tapered roller bearing is moving pretty slow relative to a car, I would highly recommend using Teflon grease on it and then a Teflon-fortified wheel grease to fill the rest of the space in the pedal body to keep water and dust out. 

I have no experience with it, but Park's new PPL-1 PolyLube 1000 grease might be a good choice too. As for the cartridge bearing, Chris King is on record as recommending Mobil 1 motor oil for his wheel bearings. I'd choose something rather thick, and perhaps "Extended Performance for High Mileage" which has seal preservatives in it. Now you just have to figure out how to get old oil out of, and new oil into, sealed bearings. (???) The only thing I can think to do is use an electric drill to turn the bearing in a bath of new oil. Let me know if you have a tried & true method.

 

Happy trails!

Smoke, Heat, Wind, Cold, Dark - when to ride?

 I've been riding seriously now as an adult since 2007, and this is the most challenging environment I've ever faced. Throw in having a new puppy (abandoned nearby, probably due to the animal shelters being closed and the owner being evicted due to COVID-19), and trying to find sleep and a schedule to ride has been all but impossible. (the puppy is wonderful though and we're so happy to have her).

The change of seasons is always a challenge this time of year here in the high desert of SoCal, but I put in so many more miles this year over the summer my body is on an early schedule now, but it's too cold and dark now to ride before sun-up, and probably for an hour after, at least without a vest or leg warmers. On the long rides I've been doing there just isn't room for all that stuff AND all the nutrition too in my jersey. With the Pinarello aero headset/stem there isn't a way to fit a Bento Bag either.

 

 

Trouble is, the only time the air is breathable here is before the dew evaporates, and those are cold & dark conditions for a 3-4hr ride. Almost all the smoke from the Bobcat Fire is blowing in our direction, so you have to pick your days and be prepared to pull the plug early on a ride, which I've had to do once already. 

California, and the entire West Coast of the US and Canada for that matter, is having the worst fire year since 1910! There's ash falling out of the sky all day long here, and family in NoCal reports the smoke is so bad in San Francisco it's been having the worst air quality of any city on Earth! SF skies this time of year are usually pristine. 

Yes, I am making excuses, so although I hope to make my 100 miles this week, riding has become quite difficult at the moment. I'm taking the liberty to complain a bit here because there are thousands of other cyclists in California, Oregon, Washington, Colorado and Arizona who are in similar circumstances and I just wanted to add my voice to one in your heads going "OMFG, what now?".

Just know, it's OK. We'll get through this, even if our mileage suffers a bit. 

Cheers!

Keeping your Waterbottle Cold

 It occurs to me that this post would have been more helpful 3 months ago, but until 6 weeks ago I couldn't have written it with authority, so I guess you can file this under "Better late than Never".

I have tried about every possible way to manage the two, and only two bottles in the cages of my Pinarello, and this method is the clear winner, so I am happy to share it now that I have something to share.

1st, buy the best possible bottles, which are hands-down the Podium Ice bottles by CamelBak. Yes, they are expensive, and they don't hold as much liquid, but they are MUCH more effective than Podium Chill, or **gulp** God forbid, uninsulated bottles. Also, turn the temp down in your fridge and freezer as low as possible. A small mini-fridge can be helpful in this regard. Remember, water ice can be any temp between 32F and -459F - absolute zero. You want that ice as cold as possible. For a special event, like a Century, you might even consider using some Dry Ice, which is frozen CO2, and is at least -110F.

It's important to have only water, or water and Emergen-C in the back bottle, so you can drink the water or pour it into the front bottle to make more Gatorade by adding Gatorade dry powder to the water. I find if I eat GU, rice, or energy bars, I need water to balance the salinity and sugar in my stomach, thus the dedicated H2O bottle. Do don't want to get yourself into a situation where you have fluids on the bike you can't use because they have too much salt in them.

Early in the season, May & June, I tried using Zefal's Magnum bottles in the rear, cock full of ice at the start, and full of very, very cold water, and that kind of works on dry days where you drain the bottle in under 2 hours, AND, move water from the back bottle to the front as quickly as possible. Like when you stop for GU every 15 minutes, drink water from this bottle too. In all cases, LARGER ice-cubes melt slower.

It turns out the bottle on the down-tube, at least on the Pinarello, is better protected from moving air that pushes heat into the skin of the bottle than the one on the seat-tube is, so my strategy, in addition to buying a Silca bottle cage for the seat-tube which has long, slotted bolt holes so it can be seated within 2mm of the bottom of the downtube, is to drain the liquid out of the back bottle ASAP as I ride, because it's the liquid which conducts the cold from the ice to the heat against the bottle's outer skin.

For really hot days, which we have every day in July, Aug, and most of Sept, use only Podium Ice bottles, and PACK them with ice. That means put cubes in the bottles and then slam them down onto a hard counter-top (not so hard as to breach the inner surface of the bottle, but hard) to shatter, crush, pack the ice into the bottle. If you have a cold spot in your fridge, store a bottle there so the water you use is as close to freezing as possible. The Zefal Magnums work great for this. 

Now make a Gatorade & Emergen-C mix in a 3rd UNINSULATED Podium bottle using that water about 1/3rd full of ice. Shake the bottle vigorously and put all 3 bottles in your freezer. What you're avoiding here is putting "red hot" Gatorade from 75 degree tap water into those very cold, ice-filled Podium Ice bottles, because that will raise the temp of the ice and the bottle, and you won't have enough time while getting showered and dressed for those insulated bottles to shed that heat into the freezer. The 3rd bottle solves this problem. 

When you are all ready, roll your bike out to the kitchen, lights flashing, fully clothed, helmet on, Garmin started, and squirt the slushy mix from the 3rd bottle into the two Podium Ice bottles you are taking with you. I use a 25oz uninsulated or Magnum bottle and aim to have just a bit of it left in the bottle when done. Drink 12-24oz of water (or Gatorade) just before you get on the bike, and anticipate having to pee somewhere 10-15 miles into your ride. Also, expect the Gatorade to get frozen into a slush the first 30-45 minutes as you ride. Don't worry, you won't have depleted your electrolytes this early into a ride, and it will liquefy soon enough.

As you ride, try to find the coldest water you can to replace the water in the back bottle, which should still have ice left in it 2-3 hours into a ride. Sacrifice the cold in the back bottle to chill the water in it before squirting it into the front Gatorade bottle you add powdered Gatorade to. Do NOT take the lid off of the back bottle to squirt water into the front bottle. Having both bottles open at the same time wastes cold and usually results in spilling water & ice that you can't replace. You, of course, will have to take the lid off the back bottle while refilling it with cold water, but only then should you risk a spill. 

If you follow this procedure, you can probably still have cold Gatorade 4-5 hours into a ride, even when starting out in 70F temps and finishing up in the low 100Fs. I find the water cooler at the Apple Valley airport very helpful in implementing this strategy, but ice and chilled water from a convenience store can also be fantastic. Unfortunately, the one here in the right location to help doesn't allow bikes inside, so I'm SOL there. 

In short, this strategy has two parts:

1. Make everything colder than everything else at home
   
2. Sacrifice the cold in the back water bottle to keep the front Gatorade bottle cold

NOTE: Do NOT, NOT, NOT freeze water in Podium Ice bottles. They absolutely WILL rupture after a few freeze cycles and you're SOL with your $25 bottle. 

 

 

 

 

 

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Easton R90 SL + Chris King Wheels

 I was looking over my shoulder for traffic the other day coming down a lovely, long hill on a local road that is designated a truck route, and thus has some nasty pot holes. This one I've avoided for over a year now, but my timing was just a bit off and I ended up in it because I couldn't swerve out to avoid it - traffic. 

This pot hole isn't completely round, having a small peninsula jutting out from the edge, anchored by a single large stone, which put a pretty good dent in my Easton R90 SL's brake track on the front wheel. I expected the wheel to be out of true, so coasted to a stop with a little help from the back brake to open the brake calipers - the OTHER use for that little lever do-hickey (or fizal contuzer, take your pick).

To my surprise, the wheel, clearly dented, and the bead warped enough to affect the tire's bead-lock, was not out of true, AT ALL! Once home I inspected it carefully, and can't detect ANY deflection in the wheel at all. I know wider rims are supposed to be stronger, but OMG, this would have destroyed most wheels. I have to say, if you're building wheels for touring, long miles, or gravel grinding, the Easton R90 SLs are really TOUGH. 

 

I decided to remove the tubed tire off the front wheel that came with my Pinarello, and mount a ContiGP5KTL, using the Folcrum 5's stock rim strip and adding a Stan's valve. The tire went on with no tools, and a good bead-lock, but the Stan's valve really sucks. It wouldn't seal up, and the sealant probably ended up inside the cavity in the rim, so not happy with that Stan's product at all. Otherwise, their rim tape and sealant is excellent. The problem is Stan's valves are sized for tubeless rims, and flop around like a jelly fish in the oversized holes of tubed rims.

CORRECTION: The valves and inner-tubes do indeed fit my replacement Easton rim. Not sure why the holes are bigger on "Universal" or tubed rims, but they no longer need to be AFAICT. Just FYI.

The Fulcrum 5 is a standard width rim, with a straight-pull, no-flange hub and 18 bladed spokes. I have to say, while nowhere near as strong as the 24 spoke, 2X laced Easton R90 SL + Chris King wheel I had custom built at Colorado Cyclist, it did seem a tad more aero, and stood up a bit taller to roll over the 3-5" gaps in the road common around here. In fact, it's given me a whole new appreciation of straight-pull front wheels. 

The advantage to straight pull is all the spokes are in the same plane, vs being on one side of the flange or the other, creating a rather messy aerodynamic shape from the hub to the 1st cross. With radially laced spokes, and straight-pull hubs, all the spokes are all in a row, from hub to rim. Especially with bladed spokes, this eliminates one of the few remaining sources of drag due to spokes. Flanged hubs like the Chris King R45 CAN be laced radially as well, with all the spokes laced on one side, usually to the spokes are on the inside of the flange, and heads on the outside, but still not quite as clean as a no-flange, straight-pull arrangement.

The Easton wheel didn't lose any extra air overnight, my concern in riding it, but I think I'm going to ride the Folcrum 5 wheel for the rest of the month and see how that goes. There may be a straight pull front wheel in my future. Both the DT Swiss 240 and 350 (Taiwan, not Switzerland) look nice, the 240 looking nicer to me, but not sure I want to pay $125 premium to lose 5 grams of weight. The Fulcrum will do for now, and should make a good test-bed. 

BTW, Fulcrum has put some interesting tech in the rear wheel of the Fulcrum 5. The rim is deeper, the drive-side flange is HUGE, the spokes are all in-line, and the spoke-beds are offset in the rim like the DT Swiss 411s are. The non-drive side is radially laced, straight-pull, and to a no-flange hub side. All of these features work to minimize the asymmetrical spoke tension created by every-growing cassette cog counts and the attendant increased dish of the wheel.

It's over 200gr heavier than my Easton-King wheelset, but if you weigh less than 165 lbs they'd be a good choice for a bargain wheelset. 

It will be interesting to see how the front wheel performs. I'll check in with observations now and again when there's something worth remarking on. 

Cheers!

PS: 

It's mid-January, 2021 and after switching back to the custom Chris King wheel in Oct for my COVID replacement Century, I am still riding it. The Easton rims are more aero, enough so that the entire wheel is more aero, though hard to detect this until ~ 20+ mph net wind. 

What I really didn't like was the straight-pull wheels' tendency to "buzz" back and forth 1-3mm the entire time I was rolling, and I think this is just a characteristic of straight-pull wheels where any change in spoke tension from course road surface gets translated into side to side motion. It's a bit like "Dutch Roll" in flying. It's annoying to me, but more importantly, it probably wastes energy to drive all that high-speed movement of wheel mass. A lighter rider might have a different experience.